A new “technological fraud” has caused turmoil in Italy. 

A gang allegedly used Artificial Intelligence tools to reproduce the voice of the Minister of Defence, Guido Crozeto, and managed to extract large sums of money.

Impersonating the minister and his alleged close associates, members of the gang contacted well-known businessmen by phone. Giorgio Armani, Diego Della Valle (founder of a famous shoe company), Massimo Moratti (owner of the Inter football team), and an oil company were among them.

The thugs demanded money from everyone in order to pay a ransom and free the kidnapped journalists and Italian soldiers. The gang assured their audience that the Bank of Italy would return the money.

Based on the available information, Massimo Moratti appears to be the sole individual who fell victim to the scam. According to information, it is possible that he deposited, in a foreign bank account, approximately one million euros.

The fraud was discovered by the vice president of the Italian Union of Industrialists, Luisa Aleotti, who knows the Italian defence minister personally and understood that if Crosetto really wanted something, he would not go through intermediaries to get the call.

Guido Crosetto announced that he is going to file a lawsuit for illegal appropriation of identity and that he is waiting to be called by the prosecutors of Milan to refer to what the businessmen who were targeted by the spiral and finally managed to contact him told him.

Source: CNN Greece

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